Flavour selector
Start from a flavour you already like and work outwards to the honeys that carry it — and to the families that keep turning up alongside it.
29 of 265 honeys carry phenolic and medicinal
What tends to come with it
Families that appear on the same records, commonest first. This is a count of co-occurrences in the catalogue, not a claim that the two tastes resemble each other — it answers “if you like this, what else is usually in the jar”.
- Caramel (17)
- Resinous (11)
- Woody (10)
- Herbaceous (7)
- Fruity (5)
- Malty (5)
- Molasses and treacle (4)
- Vegetal (4)
- Floral (3)
- Smoky (3)
- Mineral and saline (2)
- Nutty (2)
- Spicy (2)
All 29 honeys
In catalogue order. Nothing here is ranked — no honey is a better answer than another until you say what you want it for.
- Almond blossom honeyDistinctly bitter with a marzipan aroma over it — one of the few honeys where bitterness arrives before sweetness, and an acquired taste even among people who like bitter honeys.NuttyPhenolic and medicinalCaramel
- Mountain laurel honeyToxic: grayanotoxinsReported as bitter and sharp with a burning sensation in the throat, though the toxin is not reliably detectable by taste — which is the single most important fact about it.Phenolic and medicinalHerbaceous
- Rabbitbrush honeyStrong and resinous with a bitter herbal edge and a distinctly medicinal note — one of the more challenging American honeys and an acquired taste at best.ResinousHerbaceousPhenolic and medicinal
- Messmate honeyStrong and resinous with a malty depth and a faintly medicinal eucalypt lift — assertive and unmistakably Australian.ResinousMaltyCaramelPhenolic and medicinal
- Eucalyptus honeyWoody and faintly medicinal, with caramel and a cool eucalypt lift. More savoury than its colour suggests.WoodyCaramelPhenolic and medicinalHerbaceous
- Blue gum honeyStrongly medicinal and camphoraceous with a caramel base — the flavour most people mean when they say a honey tastes of eucalyptus.ResinousCaramelWoodyPhenolic and medicinal
- Corsican maquis honeyRanges from delicate and floral in spring to intensely bitter and resinous in the autumn maquis, which is dominated by strawberry tree and is among the most challenging honeys in Europe.HerbaceousResinousFloralPhenolic and medicinal
- Himalayan cliff honeySpring harvest can be toxicStrong, dark and complex, with a bitter herbal edge and a slightly astringent finish. Spring harvests are frequently sharper and more bitter than autumn ones.HerbaceousResinousPhenolic and medicinal
- Tree heath honeyStrong, malty and slightly bitter, with a burnt-caramel depth and a woody finish — assertive in a way that divides opinion sharply.CaramelMaltyPhenolic and medicinalWoody
- Heather honeyStrong, smoky and slightly bitter, with a lingering woodfire-and-toffee character. One of the most complex honeys produced anywhere.SmokyCaramelWoodyMineral and salinePhenolic and medicinal
- Manuka honeyEarthy, mineral and damp — heather-like without the smoke, with a faintly medicinal edge. Distinctive rather than delicious, and not what most people expect for the price.Mineral and salinePhenolic and medicinalCaramelWoody
- Strawberry tree honeyAggressively bitter — coffee grounds, artichoke and burnt sugar, with the sweetness arriving late and briefly. Nothing in food prepares most people for it.Phenolic and medicinalSmokyVegetalWoody
- Sidr honeyRich, dark and layered — caramel and dried fruit first, then a faintly medicinal bitterness and a long savoury finish. Complex in a way few honeys are.CaramelFruitySpicyPhenolic and medicinal
- Tualang honeySharply sour and dark, with a fermented-fruit tang over a molasses base — genuinely unlike any temperate honey, and an acquired taste.FruityMolasses and treacleSmokyPhenolic and medicinal
- Mad honeyToxic: grayanotoxinsBitter, sharp and astringent with a burnt-caramel edge and a distinct throat-catching sensation that is not a flavour but a pharmacological effect.Phenolic and medicinalMolasses and treacleWoody
- Chinese jujube honeyRich and dark with dried dates and burnt caramel, and a genuine bitterness on the finish that sets it apart from its Middle Eastern relatives.CaramelFruityPhenolic and medicinalMolasses and treacle
- Tochi honeyMalty and rich with a distinct woody astringency and a long dry finish — assertive without being harsh, and closer to a dark forest honey than to a blossom one.MaltyWoodyCaramelPhenolic and medicinal
- Neem honeyDistinctly bitter with a herbal, faintly medicinal character over a restrained sweetness — one of the least conventionally pleasant honeys in the catalogue, and deliberately so.HerbaceousPhenolic and medicinalVegetal
- Gelam honeySharp and aromatic with a distinct medicinal eucalyptus-like lift over a caramelised base — assertive and unmistakably from the myrtle family.ResinousCaramelPhenolic and medicinal
- Euphorbia honeyOverwhelmingly pungent — a sharp peppery burn at the back of the throat that builds for some seconds after swallowing and dominates everything else. Beneath it there is a warm caramel sweetness that most people never get to.SpicyResinousPhenolic and medicinalCaramel
- Aloe honeyDistinctly bitter with a warm caramel base and a faintly medicinal herbal note — the bitterness is pronounced and is the reason people buy it.Phenolic and medicinalCaramelHerbaceous
- Cardoon honeySavoury and faintly bitter, with a warm caramel body and an unmistakable green-vegetable note that is genuinely artichoke-like.VegetalCaramelNuttyPhenolic and medicinal
- Ailanthus honeyIntensely aromatic — muscat grape and elderflower with a medicinal edge. It divides opinion more sharply than any other European honey.FruityFloralPhenolic and medicinal
- Greek erica honeyDark, malty and faintly bitter, with dried fig and caramel behind it. A robust honey and a distinctly autumnal one.MaltyCaramelWoodyPhenolic and medicinal
- Oil-tea camellia honeyPale, thin and distinctly bitter, with an astringent tea-like finish. Not a beginner's honey and not really a pleasure honey.VegetalPhenolic and medicinalFloral
- Niaouli honeyStrongly medicinal and eucalypt-like, with a camphorous aroma over an amber sweetness. Unmistakably a myrtle-family honey.ResinousPhenolic and medicinalCaramel
- Paperbark honeyMedicinal and camphorous over an amber sweetness — a strong, distinctly antiseptic character that some people find difficult.ResinousPhenolic and medicinalCaramel
- Swamp mahogany honeyStrong, malty and resinous with a lingering bitterness. One of the more challenging Australian honeys and a good one.MaltyResinousMolasses and treaclePhenolic and medicinal
- Scaptotrigona honeySharp, resinous and distinctly woody, with a fermented-fruit edge. Among the more challenging stingless honeys and one of the most prized within its region.ResinousFruityWoodyPhenolic and medicinal
- Flavour families are editorial groupings, and the boundaries between them are matters of judgement rather than fact.
- It does not model intensity of a family, only its presence — a honey with a trace of smoke and one dominated by it both match 'smoky'.
- Adjacency is co-occurrence in this catalogue, not similarity of taste. It answers what tends to be in the jar together, which is a different question from what tastes alike.
- The map shifts as the catalogue grows, which is correct and does mean a link shared today may show slightly different neighbours next year.
The vocabulary under each family
HoneyHQ’s six groups and eighteen families, with the reference terms the International Honey Commission’s trained panels use and the terms official honey specifications add. A term is a link only where a source has named it in a honey in the catalogue; the rest are vocabulary, shown so you can see what the family covers.
Floral and fruity
- Floral
- orange blossom
- violet
- rose
- hyacinth
- Fruity
- pear
- apple
- red fruit
- blackcurrant
- coconut
- apricot
- exotic fruit
- dates
- prunes
- figs
- raisins
- candied fruit
- dried fruit
- overripe apple
- Citrus
- lemon
- orange
- grapefruit
Green and herbal
Warm and cooked
Woody and resinous
- Resinous
- cedar
- pine resin
- propolis
- fresh conifer wood
- spruce-tip syrup
- balsamic
- Woody
- leafy wood
- dust
- Smoky
Spicy and sharp
- Spicy
- clove
- nutmeg
- coffee
- Phenolic and medicinal
- styrene
- paint
- solvent
- household soap
- vitamin b1
Earthy and mineral
- Mineral and saline
- damp cloth
- humus
- stuffy
- Waxy
- Animal and barnyard
- piquant cheese
- vinegar
- cheese
- perspiration
- cowshed
- cat urine